Blog – Motion Worship – Video Loops, Countdowns, & Moving Backgrounds for the Christian Church

7 Tips for Simplifying Your Holiday Calendar

The holiday season is a special time for the church community, filled with opportunities to connect, celebrate, and share the joy of the season. However, managing the church's holiday calendar can be overwhelming, with the temptation to pack it full of events and activities. In this blog post, we'll explore the benefits of simplifying your approach to the holidays and focusing on just a couple of ...

How Pastors Can Embrace Sabbaticals for a Lasting Ministry

In the relentless pursuit of ministering to others, church pastors often find themselves drained emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Sabbaticals serve as an invaluable tool to help ministry leaders refresh their spirits, recenter their vision, and fortify their commitment to their calling. Taking months away from your ministry, however, can be an intimidating proposition. Here, we’ll delve...

How to Follow Up with Families After Vacation Bible School

Summer Vacation Bible School (VBS) is an exciting and impactful event in the life of a church community. It provides a unique opportunity to share the love of God with children and families, creating lasting memories and building strong relationships. However, the impact of VBS does not end when the final day concludes. Sometimes families are introduced to church and Jesus for the first time throu...

Help Students Transition from Middle School to High School

The transition from middle school to high school is an exciting yet challenging time for students. As a youth pastor, you have a unique opportunity to help make this transition smoother for young individuals who are navigating significant changes in their lives. By providing support, guidance, and a nurturing environment, you can help them thrive during this crucial period of their spiritual and p...

Plan a Church Picnic That Meets Everyone’s Dietary Needs

With warmer weather and longer days, Summer is the perfect time to take your community events outdoors. Outdoor potlucks and picnics are a fantastic way to gather as a community; there’s food to share, wide open spaces for the kids to run around, and minimal prep and clean up required. Chances are, however, there are people in your congregation with dietary restrictions that sometimes make it ha...

Tips for Your Summer Movie-Based Sermon Series

Over the past couple of decades, it's become extremely popular for churches to lean into summer blockbuster season by creating whole sermon series in which their pastor uses clips from popular movies to connect people's hearts with scriptural and spiritual truths. For most churches, this is seen as an easy outreach invitation opportunity for church attenders. It also gives a reason for folks to de...

Practical Tips for Training Your VBS Volunteers

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is an exciting time of the year for many children and their families. As a children's pastor, it can feel like a lot of pressure to ensure that VBS runs smoothly and to craft a meaningful experience for everyone involved. One of the key components of a successful VBS is a well-trained group of volunteers. Here are some tips on how to best train your volunteers for VBS: ...

3 Low-Cost and Cost-Free Ways to Make Your Church Coffee Better

Let's face it. The term "church coffee" is basically synonymous with terrible coffee. When you think about church coffee, you probably picture coffee that's too weak, too burnt, and just plain tastes bad. There are exceptions to this. I've been to several churches that have a bit more of a coffee-centric atmosphere in the lobby with a coffee shop, some going as far as making pour overs and espress...

7 ways to Follow up with First-Time Easter Visitors

On Easter Sunday, it’s likely you saw many new faces join you for worship. Did you know that more people in the United States conduct an online search for “church” around Easter than at any other time, even Christmas? Easter is a fantastic opportunity to connect with members of your community that aren’t yet plugged into a church home. You shouldn't have to wait until next year to see thes...

6 Tips for Budgeting for Your Next Youth Group Retreat

Youth retreats are fun and formative experiences for the students in your youth group. They provide exciting opportunities to connect with their peers, grow in their faith, and explore activities that help them stretch their comfort zones. Planning for and pulling them off, however, can feel like an overwhelming assignment. One of the biggest challenges you may face is budgeting for the event. Wit...

5 Tips to Make Your Production Better Today

As creatives, we're always on a journey to make the things we're working on better. God is glorified when we use our gifts, talents, and skills to reflect his glory and declare his goodness. In today's creative landscape, however, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the thought of improving. The connectedness that the internet affords us gives us access to countless massive churches and creative ...

How To Schedule Your Week as a Senior Pastor

As a senior pastor, your work schedule is unlike most. While you might enjoy more flexibility in your calendar and diversity in your to-do’s than a typical 9-5 gig, you also face unique challenges and uncharacteristic demands. Creating a schedule that allows for deep productivity, meaningful pastoring, and sufficient rest is a puzzle that takes trial and error to figure out. While everyone is di...

Preparing for Easter Services as a Worship Pastor

Easter is a great day for celebration in the church! It’s also a great day for a gallon of coffee, nerves, anxiety, and stress... If you’re a worship pastor of course. We kid, but if you are a worship pastor, you can probably relate on some level. The only reason those of us in the church get stressed about Easter is because we recognize how important of a holiday it is. There’s going to ...

How To Handle Criticism as a Lead Pastor

As a senior pastor or someone in any leadership position, criticism is inevitable. That, of course, doesn’t mean it stings any less. For most of us, our first reaction to complaints and critiques is defensiveness. Especially when the criticism feels harsh, personal, or unfair, it can be tempting to take a “haters gonna hate” mentality and harden ourselves to it. And while it’s true that so...

How to Prioritize Your To-Do List as a Church Admin

As a church admin, It can be difficult to prioritize tasks when everything feels like the most important, asks come out of nowhere, and your inbox and co-workers won’t quit interrupting. How do you stop letting your to-do list run your life and use it, instead, to set you up for success in the moment and for tomorrow? There are many productivity techniques and different methods that work for...

How to Jumpstart a Sermon-Based Small Group Curriculum

As a teaching pastor, creating sermon series that will serve your congregations is an important part of your job description. From finding the right scripture, narrowing in on salient themes, and constructing messages that will build meaningfully week after week, the time and intention that goes into crafting these series shouldn’t have to end after everyone leaves the sanctuary for Sunday brunc...

How to Plan Your Church Calendar A Year in Advance

New year, new you! Ok, maybe not a completely new you. But January 1st offers a fresh opportunity to set your church calendar up for success in the new year. Building out an entire calendar advance can feel intimidating, but it can help reduce overwhelm and scrambling later on in the year. Looking at your content from a bird’s eye view can also help you avoid obvious holes or redundancies in you...

How to Motivate and Reward Church Staff Without Promotion Opportunities

The church can be a great place to work when its at its best; the environment is comfortable, the people are friendly, and the mission is meaningful. But for many small to mid-size churches, there often isn’t much “upward mobility” or room for improvement. Most churches have two, maybe three “levels” on their organizational chart. Without room for promotions, it can be tricky to make sta...

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How to Reduce Staff and Volunteer Turnover

When you’re trying to develop a solid culture and further the mission of your church, losing staff and volunteers in droves can be Demoralizing. Not only is it frustrating, but it costs you time, money, and productivity that sets everyone back. Before we talk about strategies for retaining and developing your people, it’s important to understand the reasons why people leave in the first pl...

How Do You Talk About Pastor Appreciation Month?

I’m uncomfortable, you’re uncomfortable, everyone’s uncomfortable. October is almost here, and if you’re a pastor, you know what that means – it’s pastor appreciation month. Which, if we’re being honest, feels delicate. When I served as a pastor, I was always the first to say that I didn’t need any special recognition. And while I didn’t NEED the extra recognition, I think ...